Thoughts

When you think of being unhurried, what comes to mind? Being cruisy and unstressed? Taking each day as it comes? That’s one way of thinking about it.   I’ve come to believe that ‘unhurried’ can be defined by something more nuanced than simply being cruisy. In fact, I reckon it’s somewhat of a paradox.   […]

  Back in my mid-20’s, I was on an 11-day Outward Bound course at the top end of New Zealand’s South Island. A few days into it, our group of 12 strangers found ourselves tasked with a two-day cross-country navigation exercise through some pretty rugged terrain.   After lunch on the first day, with us […]

    If you’re like me, you might sometimes feel a little overwhelmed when you think about the state of the world. It’s kind of terrifying if you think too much about it.   And if you’re like me, you care about contributing to making the world a better place. But how much can one […]

Last weekend, the forecast for wind and waves was goooood. So I’d packed the car with all the toys, and, keen to get on the water, started driving to my favourite spot. On the way, I ended up behind a slow-moving car. It had a sticker on the back: ‘Please Be Patient. Learner Driver.’   […]

    Yesterday morning I arrived back in Wellington after a sleep-deprived, red-eye flight from Perth. As the kids and I meandered our way into the airport’s multi-story car park, a lady kindly held the lift door open for us so we could jump in, rather than wait for the next one. She and I […]

  The picture above is a word cloud of my clients’ and colleagues’ responses to this question: “What’s the first thing you think of when you think of me?”      I have it on my wall in my office and I get to see it every day. When I’m having a tough day, just […]

  Busy is not a badge to wear with pride. Yet we seem to want to show it to anyone who asks. How’s it going? Oh really busy. How about you? Yep, busy as.   I was running a workshop last week about how to create unhurriedly productive team cultures. The people in the group […]

As you’ll have observed, one of the big themes I write about is about being unhurried. Truth be told, I struggle as much as the next person on crafting an unhurried rhythm to my days. We’re living in a society that, on the surface at least, values speed and ‘more’ over slowness and ‘enough’.   […]

    I’ve been reflecting on the idea of ‘enough’.   I was first inspired by the idea of enough by the British philosopher, writer and management guru Charles Handy. Both he and his wife, a photographer, were self-employed. At the beginning of every year they would sit down and work out what enough was […]

    As I write this, I’m on a flight from Queenstown to Auckland. As I sit here, I’ve been fortunate enough to witness a beautiful exchange that I think is worth sharing with you.     Sitting across the aisle from me is a woman who was, at the start of the flight, clearly […]